Firefighters are on the scene of a house fire at Kurt Browning’s house on Forest Hill Road.

Toronto Fire Services received a call at 10:57 a.m. alerting them to a fire on Forest Hill Road. Within 30 minutes, the emergency had been upgraded to a three-alarm fire; more than 80 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

“The whole right side of the house was blanketed by fire and there was a giant pillar of smoke,” said Tyler Robinson, 14, who returned from a dental appointment to find his neighbourhood full with fire trucks. He knew Mr. Browning lived nearby long before the blaze.

“We saw Kurt Browning across the street and we put two and two together,” he went on. “We thought, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe that’s Kurt Browning’s house. Holy crap.”

The homeowner, his son, a painter and several pets were inside the house at the time. No one was injured. The damage to the home is so extensive, however, that its residents will not be able to live there for at least several weeks.